Advertisement subgroups for digital streams

ABSTRACT

A targeted advertising system based on subgroups. Different subgroups are formed based on one or more subscriber characteristics, and different targeted advertisements transmitted to the different subgroups. In the Internet-environment, the subgroups are formed by utilizing multicast addresses. In cable-based and satellite-based systems, the subgroups are formed by node configurations. The targeted advertisements are inserted in the program streams at a centralized distribution point such as a router or a cable television head-end. An apparatus is presented which receives m program streams, n advertisements, and creates p presentation streams containing targeted advertisements, where p is greater than m.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of copending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/568,084, filed on May 10, 2000, and entitled “AdvertisementSubgroups for Digital Video Streams”, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/133,398, filed on May 10, 1999, andentitled “Advertisement Subgroup Multicasting”, each of the disclosuresof which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The development of compression and transmission techniques for digitalvideo and audio signals coupled with the advent of the Internet haveresulted in an ability to transmit audio and video programming tosubscribers from a multitude of locations. Reception areas are no longerlimited to the reception area of a radio or television transmittingtower, a cable TV head end, a telephone central office or anothergeographically determined location. Instead, the subscribers ofprogramming may be distributed over a wide geographical range and infact exist in a multitude of countries.

For example, a group of subscribers distributed across the globe havinga specific interest can have simultaneous access to the programming ofinterest. In cable television systems, these programs are generallytransmitted to groups of subscribers, each group being associated with anode. A node is traditionally associated with a receiver which receivesan optical signal from the cable TV head end, converts the signal to anelectrical signal, and transmits the signals to the homes. The videoprogramming is frequently transmitted from one central location tomultiple cable television head ends, and then distributed to the nodesand ultimately to the subscribers. Although the viewership for theprograms transmitted in this manner may be quite large, generally, thereexists characteristics that can be associated with each node due to therespective geographic location.

The nodes in certain areas may have subscribers with a particular rangeof household income or other demographic characteristics that aredistinct from the subscribers in other nodes both nearby and distant.

Similar characteristics exist for the television systems that receivedigital programming from satellites. Generally, the digital videoprogramming is frequently transmitted from one central location tomultiple cable television head ends, and then distributed to the nodesand ultimately to the subscribers.

The transmission of the programming based on specific geographic areascontinues to exist, especially in cable-based systems andsatellite-based systems, but is substantially affected by the advent ofthe Internet. In the Internet environment, the information contents maybe received from any computer on the network, irrespective of where thesubscriber is located. Furthermore, in the Internet environment, theinformation contents may be customized based on subscriber needs andpreferences.

In all of the above-mentioned systems, including cable-based,satellite-based and Internet-based systems, the program contents alsoinclude one or more advertisements. These advertisements are generallyinserted in the program streams by evaluating the program contents,making a rough determination of the target audience, and findingsuitable advertisements. For example, beer advertisements may beinserted into the football game programming, and gardening tooladvertisements may be inserted into home improvement programming. Incable-based and satellite-based systems, these advertisements aregenerally displayed as spot messages, and in the Internet environment,these advertisements are displayed as banner advertisements.

Internet environments also provide for multicasting where audio andvideo streams are simultaneously transmitted to a plurality ofsubscribers. The subscribers are grouped based on the type of programcontents they receive, but there is no distinction for the purpose ofadvertising.

Thus, even though prior art advertising schemes try to match the programcontents and the advertisements that are displayed within the programcontents, such advertisement schemes are not fully effective. What islacking in these advertising schemes is the idea of targetedadvertising, i.e., presenting different advertisements to differentsubscribers based on one or more subscriber characteristics or differentversions of the same advertisement to different subscribers based on oneor more subscriber characteristics.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed at an apparatus and a method forcreating subgroups based on one or more subscriber characteristics. Eachsubgroup corresponds to one or more subscribers and receives aparticular program stream and one or more targeted advertisementsdirected at that set of subscribers.

The subgroups may be created in many different ways. In an Internetenvironment, the subgroups may be created by utilizing multicastingfeatures. Generally, the subgroups are created within a multicast groupbased on one or more shared subscriber characteristics. The subgroup maycomprise a group of subscribers, a group of households, an individualsubscriber or a single household. In a cable environment, the subgroupsmay be created based on the configuration of a regional head-end and oneor more local head-ends, e.g., each node configured to a local head-endmay represent a subgroup.

In another embodiment, an apparatus is presented in which n digitalprogram streams are received along with m digital advertisement streams,and p digital presentation streams containing inserted advertisementsare created, where p is greater than n. Each of the digital presentationstreams corresponds to a different subgroup, e.g., a first presentationis transmitted to a first subgroup, and a second presentation istransmitted to a second subgroup, etc.

In one implementation, different presentation streams are formed fordifferent subgroups created within a multicast group. First, differentadvertisements or different versions of the same advertisements areselected. Then a plurality of presentation streams are created bymultiplexing the program contents with one or more targetedadvertisements. These presentation streams are then transmitted todifferent subgroups. Each of the subgroups receives a presentationstream that comprises program content and one or more targetedadvertisements. The presentation streams may be digital video streams ordigital audio streams.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part ofthe specification, illustrate the embodiments of the present inventionand, together with the description serve to explain the principles ofthe invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates the migration from broadcast and low bandwidthunicast services to multicast and high bandwidth services;

FIG. 2 illustrates current broadcast services and dial-up Internetaccess;

FIG. 3 illustrates the formation of multicast subgroups by utilizingdifferent routers;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary case of formation of multicast groups ina cable-based network;

FIG. 5 illustrates the process of inserting targeted advertisements at acentralized point;

FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary ad insertion multiplexer;

FIG. 6B illustrates time independent ad reception and insertion using anad insertion multiplexer; and

FIG. 7 illustrates the migration of advertising from broadcastadvertisements or advertisements in unicast IP addressed streams tomulticast ads and services, and to unicast ad and unicast services.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in thedrawings, specific terminology will be used for the sake of clarity.However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specificterms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific termincludes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner toaccomplish a similar purpose.

With reference to the drawings, in general, and FIGS. 1 through 7 inparticular, the method and apparatus of the present invention isdisclosed.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the broadcast entertainment andtelecommunications services are migrating from the classifications ofbroadcast programming and low bandwidth unicast 101 transmission tomulticast and medium bandwidth unicast 103 systems in which the numberof subscribers in the receiving group is reduced, or the bandwidth to asubscriber receiving an individualized service is increased. Thismigration is present in traditional television broadcasting as well asInternet access environments.

The increased availability of bandwidth to subscribers results in theformation of smaller broadcasting groups that can be referred to asmulticast groups. In addition, the amount of bandwidth available to eachsubscriber for unicast services such as connections to Web sites,high-speed point-to-point data connections, and videoconferencing, isincreased. This results in medium bandwidth unicast connections that cansupport new services.

The increased bandwidth also enables video on demand services that areessentially high bandwidth unicast (illustrated as 105 in FIG. 1)connections providing a subscriber with specific programming at aspecific point in the program stream.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a number ofnew services may also be provided based on these unicast connections.One of these services is the relay of targeted advertisements.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the targeted advertisementsare relayed based on subgroups, wherein each subgroup may comprise oneor more subscribers, or one or more households. The method and systemfor creating subgroups is applicable for both the televisionbroadcasting (video transmission) environment and the Internetenvironment, and may be realized in traditional networks.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary illustrations for traditional televisionbroadcasting and Internet access environments. The present broadcastaudio and video entertainment services fall in the category of broadcastservices that are delivered by traditional radio, cable TV and wirelessbroadcasting techniques wherein a client (receiver) 209 receivesprogramming from a central unit 211. The central unit 211 may be abase-station or a head-end or a cable distribution point. In theInternet world, a web-server 207 broadcasts the information over anInternet network 205 to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 203 whichultimately delivers the information to a client 201. The broadcasting isaccomplished by utilizing one or more different multicasting protocolsover the Internet.

The point-to-point connection for Internet access illustrated in FIG. 2is also representative of unicast services that can be defined as thepoint-to-point transmission of signals from a source or a subscriber toanother subscriber. This includes telephone service and point-to-pointdata connections to data sources.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the actualformation of subgroups for advertising is performed by creating multiplelists or tables of subscribers that share one or more subscribercharacteristics. The subgroups may be based on (1) geographicsegmentation, (2) demographic segmentation, (3) psychologicalsegmentation, (4) psychographic segmentation, (5) socioculturalsegmentation, (6) use-related segmentation, (7) use-situationsegmentation, (8) benefit segmentation, and (9) hybrid segmentation.More information may be found in a book entitled Consumer Behavior, byLeon G. Schiffman and Leslie Lazar Kanuk published by Prentice Hall, NewJersey 1999.

The analysis of different segmentations permit the advertisement to bedirected to specific users or groups of users who fit certain criteria.For instance, an advertisement for a baby stroller could reach parentsof children under five years old—and only those individuals in thatgroup. Other publicly or privately available data regarding thesubscribers may also be collected. This data may also be mined to form asubgroup of subscribers which has a common characteristic which matchesthe characteristics of the target group.

One technique for forming subgroups involves utilization of geographiclocation information. Each subgroup may consist of subscribers locatedin a particular state, city, or associated with a cable television node.Another technique for forming subgroups is based on knowledge of theviewership of the actual programming. For example, many companiescollect data related to the viewing of the television programming andsuch information may be used to form subgroups. Once such collection ofdata is known as the Nielsen rating which is based on samples ofinformation related to the viewing of television programming. Othertypes of similar information are also available. The subgroups may bebased on the actual viewership information, or on an estimate of thecurrent viewership, or on the statistical measurement of the viewership.

The actual formation of subgroups may be accomplished in many differentways. In an Internet environment, the subgroups may be formed byutilizing multicast addresses. Currently, the multicast addresses areutilized to form a group of subscribers that are interested in receivingthe same information, e.g., listening to the same radio station, beingmembers of some listserv, etc. In accordance with the principles of thepresent invention, the members of a multicast group may be furtherclassified into subgroups (i.e., multicast subgroups). These subgroupsmay be formed based on geographic locations, e.g., country of residence,as can be determined from a subscriber e-mail address, IP address, orother Internet-related parameters. These subgroups may also be formedbased on a subscriber's operating system, data transmission rate, orother transmission related parameters. In this implementation, eachsubgroup may comprise a country, e.g., subscribers from the USA may begrouped in the first subgroup, and subscribers from Mexico may begrouped in the second subgroup. The formation of subgroups based ongeographic information assists in selecting target advertisements thatare suitable for each group.

As shown in FIG. 3, in one embodiment, the multicast subgroups may beformed by utilizing different routers. In FIG. 3, a transmitter/providerof information (sender) 301 is directly connected to Router 1 303. Thesender 301 may be a web-based server or a network-based server or othercomparable means configured to distribute information to a plurality ofreceivers 305 via one or more routers 303. As shown in FIG. 3, Router 1is directly coupled to the sender 301 and thereby forms a multicastgroup. Different receivers 305 belonging to the multicast group ofRouter 1 are further distributed in subgroups. Receiver 1 and Receiver 2belong to a first subgroup served directly by Router 1. Receiver 3 is ina second subgroup served by Router 2. Receiver 4 and 5 are in a thirdsubgroup and are served by Router 3. Receiver 6 and 7 are in a fourthsubgroup and are served by Router 4.

Standard Internet multicasting protocols may be used to create thesesubgroups. Internet-based multicast protocols are well known to thoseskilled in the art and include Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)protocols and other Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) related protocols. Some of these multicast protocols aredescribed in the book entitled Routing in the Internet authored byChristian Huitema, and published by Prentice-Hall in 1995, and in thevolumes 1 and 2 of the books entitled Internetworking with TCP/IP,authored by Douglas E. Corner and Douglas E. Corner and David L. Stevensrespectively, published by Prentice-Hall in 1995 and 1999. Theaforementioned books are incorporated herein by reference.

The Internet Engineering Task Force RFCs 1112, 1458, 1301 and 966specify protocols for multicasting and are incorporated herein byreference.

Other multicasting techniques may also be used to create lists ofsubscribers that form part of one or more multicast groups. These groupsmay be subscribers in diverse locations receiving a program stream, ormay be a group of subscribers belonging to the listserv.

In the cable systems and satellite-based systems, the subgroups may becreated by utilizing the existing configuration of cable networks. As anexample, in a cable television system, the subscribers associated with anode may be considered to form a subgroup. As illustrated in FIG. 4, ina traditional cable-based network 300, a regional head end 302 iscoupled to one or more local ends 304. Each local end 304 serves one ormore nodes 306. Each node 306 serves one or more set-tops 308, and eachset-top 308 in turn may serve one or more television sets 310. Ingeneral, the viewers of the information transmitted to the televisionsets are the subscribers.

The subgroups may be formed utilizing the configuration of a local headend 304, or a node 306. The nodes are preferred because traditionally alocal head end serves a large number of viewers/households, wherein anode serves only few households and thus may be used appropriately toform subgroups.

In a traditional cable-based system, a node 306 is configured to aplurality of set-tops 308 whereby the set-tops 308 receive transmissionsignals from the nodes 306. These transmission signals includeprogramming contents as well as advertisements. Generally, theinformation is delivered via transmission signal to one or more set-tops308 located within the household, and for tracking purposes, a set-top308 represents a subscriber. However, in actual practice, a singleset-top 308 may serve one or more television sets 310.

As described before, depending on the application and the desired sizeof the subgroups, the subgroups may be based on the local head end 304or may be based on the nodes 306. Alternatively, the subgroups may benarrowed and may be based upon the different set-tops 308, whereby ahousehold represents a subgroup.

In the future, the subgroups will be further narrowed to the level of atelevision set 310 served from a single set-top 308. Thus, a singleset-top 308 may represent a plurality of subscribers. In this case,different members of a household are different subscribers and theindividual members of the household may be grouped in differentsubgroups for receiving different targeted advertisements. For example,the parents may receive a first target advertisement in their bedroomtelevision, and the television in the children's bedroom may receive asecond target advertisement (even though the parents and the childrenmay be watching the same program).

The cable-based systems and satellite-based systems may further utilizecable modems or other devices configured to communicate with theInternet. For example, set-top boxes can include Data Over Cable ServiceInterface Specification (DOCSIS) cable modems and be assigned, and thusidentified, by an IP address. The DOCSIS cable modem can receivemultiple channels via this IP address.

In one embodiment, the advertisement streams (also referred as adstreams) are sent via a DOCSIS channel setup to the DOCSIS cable modemwithin the set-top from a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS). TheCMTS relays all ad streams transmitted by the sender. The senderobtains, from the CMTS, the IP address of the set-top box whichintegrates a DOCSIS cable modem and transmits the advertisements to thatIP address through the CMTS. The IP address can be part of a multicastgroup or it can be a unicast address. The ad streams may be transmittedusing Internet technologies such as streaming media or other real timeprotocols.

The subscriber information relating to the nodes may be furthercustomized/modified. For example, the addresses of the homes served bythe node may be used along with public records to determine the averageprice that was paid for the home. The public records that sufficientlyprovide this information include tax records and other real estateinformation, e.g., the real estate information that associates zip codeswith the median house prices may be used to determine the median houseprice of households served by a node. Other demographic information thatmay be of interest includes the predominant language which is spoken bythe subscribers in the node, the average household size for householdsserved by the node, and the average disposable income of householdsserved by the node.

The present node sizes in cable television systems range from 300 to1,500 subscribers, but the node sizes are likely to decrease as morebandwidth is required per home. This will result in smaller nodes, eachnode being fed by a fiber-optic cable which transmits and receivessignals from the head end. As node size is reduced the subgroup foradvertising will also be reduced, thus permitting more directedadvertisements.

In cable-based systems, and in Internet-based systems, once the targetadvertisements have been identified, the actual insertion of theadvertisements in the program streams may occur at a centralized point(e.g., a server) or at a local point (e.g., at a client end).

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process of inserting targetadvertisements at a centralized point. FIG. 5 is particularly applicablein an Internet environment. As shown in FIG. 5, there exists a pluralityof target advertisements 502 that may have been received from manydifferent advertisement servers 504. At a centralized point 506, thesetarget advertisements are inserted into one or more actual programstreams 508 to form a plurality of presentation streams (PS1-PS3). Eachpresentation stream contains a different target advertisement. Forexemplary purposes, it is shown that a sender 510 routes a firstpresentation stream (PS1) via one or more routers 512 to a firstreceiver, labeled Receiver 1. The second presentation stream (PS2) isbeing routed via another router to Receiver 2. The third presentationstream 3 (PS3) is routed via the use of yet another router to Receivers3 and 4. Additional routers may be used to form different subgroups andfor the transmission of the advertisements to these subgroups.

The process of centralized insertion is also applicable for thecable-based or for the satellite-based systems. In a cable televisionenvironment, the routing function may be accomplished in the head end,instead of being accomplished in the routers. Similarly, the receiversshown in FIG. 5 may correspond to one or more geographic nodes withinthe cable television system.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate another exemplary process of insertingadvertisements at a centralized point. This process may be used forcable-based systems. FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary advertisementinsertion system (also referred as ad insertion system) 600. The adinsertion system 600 comprises an advertisement insertion multiplexer(also referred as ad insertion mux) 602, where a number of programstreams (P1-Pn) are received and initially decoded by demux units DC1,DC2, through DCn. The advertisements are labeled as AD1-ADm and arereceived separately. The timing modules AT1, AT2 through ATm are used todetermine the appropriate insertion point for a new advertisement. Thead insertion mux 602 is responsible for multiplexing the program streamswith the appropriate advertisements and creating a plurality ofpresentation streams PS1-PSp.

The program streams P1-Pn may comprise empty segments and the adinsertion mux 602 may insert target-advertisements in these segments tocreate various presentation streams 1 through p. Alternatively, theprogram streams may contain original advertisements within the programcontents and the ad insertion mux 602 may substitute the originaladvertisement with one of the selected advertisements and createpresentation streams 1 through p.

Thus, one feature of the system is the ability to take n program streamsand m advertisements and create p presentation streams with p beinglarger than n. This represents the fact that the initial program streamshave been used in conjunction with the multicast subgroups to createpresentation streams with advertisements that are specifically directedat subgroups.

FIG. 6B illustrates the time independent feature of the advertisementinsertion mux 602. This feature allows advertisements to be received attimes not corresponding to the presentation times. The advertisementsmay be received shortly in advance of or well in advance of theinsertion time, and may be stored in a temporary storage unit forinsertion at a later time. As previously described, the advertisementsmay be received over a low bandwidth channel such that a 30 secondadvertisement is received in a period of minutes or even longer. Thelocal digital storage unit such as a magnetic storage unit, amagneto-optic storage unit, or an optical storage unit allows insertionany time subsequent to the reception.

In an exemplary case, the programming may be received at digital datarates in the 27-155 Mb/s range. Thus, a fiber optic transmission systembased on OC-3 transport rates or greater is used for the transport ofdigital video programming. The advertisements may be received over alower data rate line, such as a T1 line operating at 1.5 Mb/s. In thisexample, the transmission of the digital video programming must occurover the fiber optic transmission system (special facility), while thecurrent cable television system can be used for the transmission of theadvertisements.

Generally, the insertion of advertisements in program streams is handledby a combination of cue-tone detectors, switching equipment and tapeplayers which hold the advertising material. Upon receipt of the cuetone, an insertion controller automatically turns on a tape playercontaining the advertisement. Switching equipment then switches thesystem output from the video and audio signals received from theprogramming source to the output of the tape player. The tape playerremains on for the duration of the advertising, after which theinsertion controller causes the switching equipment to switch back tothe video and audio channels of the programming source. When switched,these successive program and advertising segments usually feed to aradio-frequency (RF) modulator for delivery to the subscribers.

Many subscriber television systems, such as cable television systems arecurrently being converted to digital equipment. These new digitalsystems compress the data being transmitted to subscribers usingcompression standards such as Motion Picture Experts Group 2 (MPEG-2)standard. The compressed advertisement data is stored as a digital fileon a large disk drive or several drives. Upon receipt of the cue tone,the digital system spools (“plays”) the file off of the drive to adecompressor. The video and accompanying audio data are decompressedback to a standard video and audio, and switched into the video/audiofeed of the RF modulator for delivery to the subscriber.

A compressed program stream, generally, is a collection of video, audio,and data streams which usually share a common time base.

To enable the inserting of different advertisements in compressedprogram streams, different advertising breaks or splice points areidentified. Splice points in a compressed program stream provideopportunities to switch from one program to another. They indicate asafe place to switch, a place in the bit stream, where a switch can bemade, and result in good visual and audio quality. They are analogous tothe vertical (blanking) interval used to switch uncompressed video.Unlike uncompressed video, frame boundaries in an MPEG-2 bit stream arenot evenly spaced. Therefore, the syntax of the transport packet itselfis used to convey where these splice points may occur.

There exists a plurality of standards in the current technologies thatprovides a description of splice points and other constraints forencoding and inserting in program streams, e.g., MPEG-2 transportstreams. In systems utilizing MPEG-2, the transport streams may bespliced without modifying the Packetized Elementary Stream (PES) packetpayload. The systems are in compliance with existing Society of MotionPicture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) standards, e.g., SMPTE312M-1999, and the constraints specified in the standard are appliedindividually to program streams within transport streams.

Splicing of MPEG bit streams also requires managing buffer fullness ofthe decoder's buffers. When MPEG bit streams are encoded, there is aninherent buffer occupancy at every point in time. The buffer fullnesscorresponds to a delay, the amount of time that a byte spends in thebuffer. When splicing two separately encoded bit streams, the delay atthe splice point will not usually match. This mismatch in delay cancause the buffer to overflow or underflow at some time in the future.

To avoid unpredictable underflows and overflows, the splicing methodrequires that the MPEG encoder match the delay at splicing points to agiven value. Alternatively, the syntax of the transport packet itselfmay be used to convey where these splicing points may occur.

Two different types of splice points may be defined: Out Points and InPoints. In Points are places in the bit streams where it is safe toenter and start decoding that bit stream. Out points are places where itis safe to exit the bit stream. Out Points and In Points are imaginarypoints in the bit stream located between two transport stream packets.An Out Point and an In Point may be co-located, that is, a single packetboundary may serve as both a safe place to leave a bit stream and a safeplace to enter it.

The SMPTE standard describes requirements for grouping In Points of aset of program identifier (PID) streams into program In Points, and forgrouping Out Points of a set of PID streams into program Out pointswhich correspond in presentation time to the underlying data.Furthermore, because MPEG video and audio frames have differentdurations and their presentation times do not necessarily align, thisstandard defines exactly what it means for PID stream splice points tocorrespond in time. More information on this standard may be found in adocument entitled “SMPTE Standard for Television, Splice Points forMPEG-2 Transport Schemes”, published by the Society of Motion Pictureand Television Engineers, 595 W. Hartsdale Avenue, White Plains, N.Y.10607.

Thus, one object of the invention is to provide for efficient real-timedistribution of one or more variable bit-rate (VBR) programs to one ormore receivers. In cases where a plurality of programs are multiplexedtogether and distributed simultaneously, it is possible, in the contextof the present invention, for one or more of these programs to beencoded at a constant bit rate (CBR). Typically, each VBR or CBR programconsists of a video stream component, one or more audio streamcomponents, and possibly one or more data stream components. Each ofthese real-time distributed programs is hereinafter referred to as aprimary program.

It is another object of the invention to selectively distributeadvertisements in the form of auxiliary data to one or more receivers.The auxiliary data is distributed in non-real time using any availablechannel capacity, and is stored locally at the selected receivers forreal-time presentation at a later time. In accordance with theforegoing, one aspect of the invention comprises a method and apparatusfor efficient CBR distribution of program streams, along withadvertisements (auxiliary data) to one or more receivers. A primary datastream, comprising at least one VBR program, and possibly one or moreCBR programs, is converted to a CBR data stream by insertingadvertisements where fill packets would have otherwise been used tocreate a CBR data stream. The distribution of the program streams andadvertisements is based on subgroups.

Furthermore, the advertisements in the form of the auxiliary data may bedifferentiated from the primary programs in that the auxiliary data neednot be distributed in real time. By doing away with the requirement forreal-time or near real-time distribution of at least a portion of theprogram multiplex, it becomes easier to efficiently utilize theavailable channel bandwidth.

In an exemplary embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the programstreams and the advertisements (auxiliary data) are each assumed to bedivided into segments or packets. The packets of auxiliary data areinserted in between the packets of the primary programs whenever thedistribution channel is idle for a time interval that is at least aslong as the time interval needed to transmit the next packet ofauxiliary data. In addition, MPEG-compliant program map dataillustrating the location of each of the primary program or auxiliarydata stream components in the multiplexed data stream are inserted intothe data stream for use at the receivers. Such program maps aredescribed in .sctn.2.4.4 of the MPEG system layer documentation, ISO/IEC13818-1.

In connection with the foregoing, another aspect of the inventioncomprises a method and apparatus for receiving the CBR distribution datastream at a particular receiver, and combining selected program streamswith selected advertisements to create a customized augmented programfor that particular receiver. The receiver is configured with sufficientlocal storage to buffer the selected advertisements until they areneeded, for insertion into the selected primary program or for otherpresentations, at a later time.

In an exemplary embodiment of this aspect of the invention, a receiverprogram selector receives the distribution data stream and uses aprogram map embedded therein to direct program and auxiliary datamultiplexers (MUXes) to extract a selected primary program and selectedportions of the auxiliary data stream, respectively. A videoaugmentation unit then inserts the selected auxiliary data into theprimary program stream to create an augmented primary program which issupplied for decoding and viewing. In the typical case, the auxiliarydata comprises short program segments including both video and audiodata.

In this way, individual receivers which include some form of localstorage could be programmed to receive certain program segments orcertain types of program segments at any time of the day. For example,all new car advertisements could be classified together and assigned aunique group identification number. If such advertisements areperiodically extracted from an auxiliary data library and combined withthe multiplexed primary programs prior to distribution, then the programmap embedded in the distribution data stream would be updated to reflectsuch additions. A receiver that has been programmed to receive alladvertisements pertaining to new automobiles, and which is monitoringthe received bit stream could detect such an advertisement by matchingthe relevant group classification number in the embedded program tablewith an internal list representative of the types of programs which ithas been programmed to receive. The PIDs corresponding to any associatedaudio, video, or data streams comprising the advertisement, could thenbe extracted from the distribution data stream and copied to localstorage for viewing at a later time.

FIG. 7 illustrates the migration of services from the present suite ofservices that are transmitted as broadcast services with program IDs(PIDs) 902 and broadcast services with IP addressing 904, to mediumbandwidth services 906 which can include broadcast programming labeledby program identifiers and combined with multicast advertisements, aswell as multicast programming with multicast advertisements. Alsoillustrated in FIG. 7 is the migration from medium bandwidth services906 to unicast services 908 including unicast programming and unicastadvertisements. In unicast services, the individual advertisements aredelivered directly to the subscriber along with the individuallyselected programming.

The advertisements may be inserted into program streams to create aplurality of presentation streams that are directly transmitted to agroup of subscribers. An example of this embodiment is the substitutionof generic advertisements in a cable television system at the cable TVhead end and transmission of the new program presentation streamdirectly to the subscriber. In another embodiment, an Internet senderinserts advertisements destined for a subgroup multicast and multicaststhe new presentation stream to the subscribers in that multicastsubgroup. Alternatively, the program streams may contain one or moreempty segments where one or more targeted advertisements may beinserted.

Generally, the programming or entertainment program streams includedigital video or audio streams that contain programming of interest tothe subscriber. This programming may be entertainment programming in theform of shows, news, theatre, and movies, or may be data programmingincluding but not limited to stock quotes, travel information, or othertypes of information that may be broadcasted to a plurality ofsubscribers.

Generally, the program streams are digitized and compressed in order tobe transmitted over a limited bandwidth channel. A variety ofcompression schemes may be used. For video, these techniques include themotion pictures expert group (MPEG) compression standard, as well as anyof the video streaming standards used for the transmission of video overthe Internet. For audio systems, a variety of audio compression andtransmission techniques may be used including the compression andtransmission system developed by Real Networks and sold under thetrademark REALAUDIO, as well as other audio compression and transmissionsystems available for use on the Internet. These video and audiocompression and transmission systems allow for the incorporation ofgeneric/default advertisements when initially placed in the audio orvideo stream. Once placed in the stream, a variety of techniques may beused to detect their presence, and these generic advertisements may besubstituted with target advertisements. The compressed audio or videostreams may also contain one or more empty segments where one or moretarget advertisements may be inserted.

One technique that may be used to detect an advertisement break in thecompressed digital stream is the placement of an audible or inaudibletone within the digital stream. This tone may be used to mark thebeginning or end of the advertisement. An alternate technique is toplace a known digital code in the audio or video stream that permitsrecognition of the advertisement. This code may indicate the duration ofthe advertisement. Using this technique, digital circuitry may be usedto recognize the beginning of the advertisement. Other techniques arealso envisioned.

Once the advertisement is located and removed from the audio or videostream, it may be necessary to “heal” the stream such that there is nodisruption in the compression algorithms which may rely on informationwhich is interspersed in the advertisement. The interspersing ofinformation may be such that programming information is included in adigitized advertisement which will be replaced. A healing technique maybe used to replace the original audio or video information and insertedadvertisement, and consists of locating the information in the streamwhich is related to the programming and insuring that it is containedwithin the new advertisement that is inserted into the programming.

Although this invention has been illustrated by reference to specificembodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious changes and modifications may be made which clearly fall withinthe scope of the invention. The invention is intended to be protectedbroadly within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. A method of presenting targeted advertisements to subscribers in apacketized video environment, the method comprising: (a) retrieving,from a plurality of subscriber locations, data characterizingsubscribers associated with the subscriber locations; (b) forming, basedon at least one subscriber characteristic obtained from data, a set ofaddressable subgroups, each addressable subgroup being characterized byone or more of the subscriber characteristics and including one or moreof the subscribers; (c) receiving, at a centralized location, a programstream containing at least one advertising opportunity; (d) retrieving,at the centralized location, a plurality of targeted advertisements; (e)creating, at the centralized location, a set of targeted advertisementstreams from the plurality of targeted advertisements, the set oftargeted advertisement streams corresponding to set of addressablesubgroups; (f) transmitting the set of targeted advertisement streamsfrom the centralized location to the addressable subgroups; (g) storing,at the subscriber locations, at least one targeted advertisement fromthe targeted advertisement stream transmitted to the associatedsubgroup; (h) transmitting the program stream from the centralizedlocation to the addressable subgroups; (i) receiving the program streamat the subscriber locations; and (j) creating a set of presentationstreams containing different targeted advertisements by inserting, atthe subscriber locations, at least one stored targeted advertisementinto the at least one advertising opportunity of the received programstream.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the subgroups are formed basedon geographic location.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the dataincludes at least one demographic parameter.
 4. The method of claim 1wherein the subscribers of the addressable subgroups are served bydifferent delivery networks.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein thesubscriber locations are geographically dispersed.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the set of presentation streams are continuouspresentable streams containing content and at least one targetedadvertisement.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein each presentation streamin the set of presentation streams includes a different targetedadvertisement.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least oneadvertising opportunity includes at least one default advertisement. 9.The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one targeted advertisementstored at the subscriber location corresponds to the one or moresubscriber characteristics of the associated subgroup.
 10. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the targeted advertisements are not synchronized withthe at least one advertising opportunity.